Hard Drive Question

[allardjd 1,853]

I have a technical question.  Not sure this is a problem waiting to bite or not but am not a hardware maven so I thought I'd pose the question to those of you who are.

 

The machine came with Win10 factory installed.  My hard drive installation looks like this...

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

C: Factory installed SSD - 120 GB

Only about ~12 GB free

Program Files (x86), Windows folders account for a good sized chunk of the used space

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

D: Factory installed HDD - 1.0 TB

930 GB Free

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

HDD 2.0 TB - in a breakout box, connected by a USB 3.0 connection through a powered hub, partitioned as...

K:  1.0 TB - 390 GB free

L:  1.0 TB - 750 GB free

 

The connection is USB 3.0 all the way to the PC - breakout box, cables, hub and PC port are all USB 3.0 so it goes at 3.0 speeds.  This is a HDD internal drive salvaged from a dead PC, still working well and too big to not put to good use.  The breakout box/USB 3.0 connection is reasonably fast and makes a good data drive.  This is a usable resource, but of course not fast enough to consider as a home for P3D V4.1.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

I just bought P3D V4.1 but haven't installed it yet.  Obviously it needs to go on D:. 

 

My question is...

 

Does having only 12 GB of free space left on C: look like a problem that will bite me in the future?  If so, what should I do about it?

 

I don't see this as necessarily related to the pending P3D V4.1 installation but it looks a little ominous to me.  Advice appreciated.

 

John

 

[phil white 274]

So that looks like you have about 10% space remaining and I think unless I’m mistaken that Windows sees this as going into the red so try not to use too much remaining space. Just for the record I have a 500gb SSD for the operating system and other applications and they are no so expensive now although a 250gb SSD will be a good option too.

[allardjd 1,853]

Thanks.

 

Interesting that we now use "only" and "12 GB" in the same sentence.  My first HDD, way back when, was 30 MB total and the salesman said, "You'll never fill that up!"

 

Obviously things have changed a bit since then, mostly for the better.

 

John

[wain 879]

good advise Phil..Just looked at my setup, Win10 on 250GB SSD, 112GB free, but only use it for OS and stuff like that, XP on its own HDD and the same with STEAM & P3D on another drive, external drive for backups......should be ok as long as you install to HDD's and do regular cleanups of downloaded junk.....

[CAT3508 343]

Hi Wayne,

 

I had a similar problem with my C drive. It was only a 120 GB SSD, and it filled up rapidly, until it was in the red.  I obtained a 450GB SSD and transferred all the data including the O/S to the new drive. The guy who did it for me used a program called Acronis, obtainable on the internet. 

Haven't had any problems since. I have all my flightsim stuff on E drive, a 1TB HDD.

Cheers,

 

Neil

[Quickmarch 488]

All good advice, JA.

 

12GB is not enough to cover the inevitable stuff that defaults on install to your C: Drive. It IS going to bite you at some time in the future.

 

I had exactly the same problem. I still have the 120GB SSD only now I use it for music storage. My system is not complex enough to need the speed of the SSD so I replaced it with a 500GB HDD (a good quality, fast one).

 

It never ceases to amaze me how sloppy programmers are these days. an operating system that requires 108GB - ??? Begs the question: what is it doing?

 

March - still using Win7.

[mutley 4,495]

Hi John,

 

Space looks to be a real issue on C: so try to reclaim some space and manage the data differently using various methods as below:-

 

1. Make sure there's not a lot of junk files on your C: drive by using a program like CCleaner

 

2. Change where Windows stores temporary files to another drive: https://www.howtogeek.com/285710/how-to-move-windows-temporary-folders-to-another-drive/

 

3. If you have a lot of personal data/documents, consider moving them to another drive: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/moving-your-personal-data-folders-in-windows-vista-the-easy-way/

 

4. Change where Windows Office stores its documents to another drive.

 

Joe

 

 

[Gunner 69]

    SSD-s with OS on them needs to have 50-40 % free of the total capacity to function properly. If free space falls below that, there is a loss of performance.

When you use the Disk cleanup, make sure to click on the "Clean up system files" button. This will delete the old downloaded windows update files and the old windows backup files, which more likely is there.

  Also, you can move your personal files to another drive, files saved by default in users/user/documents folder. Just open the Users/"username" and right click the documents folder >>properties and check the tabs. Should be there a Location tab. The "Move" button will move the whole folder to the another drive. Folders which have the "Location" tab, can be moved safely.

  My C is also a 120G drive and i'm keeping it with 40-45G free fairly easy.

 

 good luck,

[allardjd 1,853]

Am working through the suggestions.  The Recycle Bin got me 2 GB - who'd a thunk it?

 

It appears that Program Files, Program Files (x86) and the Windows folder alone are really too big for this drive (~ 80 GB total).  Am looking into a 500 GB SSD for the C: drive, using the 120 GB SSD for P3D V4.1, having the 2 TB HDD that's currently connected through a breakout box installed internally.  That would give me 3.0 TB of internal HDD space on two physical HDDs in addition to the two SSDs - that should be plenty for anyone - until MS releases the next major re-write of Windows.

 

John